


here to protect you

by imagymnasia



Series: My Heart Beats for Mercievain [4]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Blue Lions Route, Pre-Time Skip, Zanado | Red Canyon (Fire Emblem), also a moment of introspective angst, because Sylvain, why do I always write in Sylvain's POV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:41:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26539780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imagymnasia/pseuds/imagymnasia
Summary: For Sylcedes Week 20204: sacrifice /duty“Mercedes, heads up!” He slowed to a canter just as the bird began to gather its strength for a new attack. At the sound of her name she looked up, startled, then reached for him; Sylvain leaned out of the saddle and reached as far as he could, clasping her arm in his and pulling her up behind him.Mercedes immediately wrapped her arms around his waist. Sylvain urged his horse forward. They surged past the bird as it unleashed its whirlwind, the remnants whipping behind them as it ricocheted from the canyon walls and pelted them with bits of stone.“What were you thinking?” he asked, not turning to look at her. “You’re not a soldier, Mercedes. What did you think—” Then he stopped; safe place, then lecture.Wait,lecture?Saints, he sounded like Ingrid.
Relationships: Sylvain Jose Gautier/Mercedes von Martritz
Series: My Heart Beats for Mercievain [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1921615
Comments: 2
Kudos: 22
Collections: Sylcedes Week 2020





	here to protect you

_It was supposed to be abandoned,_ thought Sylvain. Just a simple mission; just to keep an eye on the Professor. _Yeah, sure._

The cries of beasts and warfare rang out between the peaks of the Red Canyon, overlapping until the anguished roars and clash of weapons and angry human voices were indistinct from one another. The cacophony was disorienting, and each echo made it hard to pinpoint the location of friend or foe.

So when Sylvain heard Annette scream, so clearly, so _close_ , the sound went right through him. He twisted hard in the saddle, searching for her hair fire-bright against the greys and browns of the canyon. There— one of the giant birds had Annette pinned, just across the field. She ducked between the stones and a fallen tree, but the bird swiped at her again, shredding the dead wood in its talons like paper and chasing her deeper into the canyon.

He was already riding across the stone, steel lance heavy in his hands. He hated the damned things, hated the way they made his skin crawl, hated the way they brought back memories he’d rather ignore. If the big one hadn’t been blocking the valley entrance, he might have turned and fled, Professor be damned. But it helped that this one was a bird, and not a wolf or a scaled beast. It helped that none of them look like Miklan.

It also helped that Annette needed him. As much as he tried to deny it, Sylvain had a goddess-damned hero complex when it came to his friends. It was probably going to get him killed one day, but that wasn’t as much a concern as it should have been. He shoved that thought to the back of his mind with all the unpleasant others and spurred his horse onward, praying that he wasn’t too late.

Sylvain rounded the bend in the rock and found his prayers had been answered. Annette was still in trouble, but she was alive. The girl had backed herself into a corner, trembling hands aglow with some sort of wind magic. Sylvain paused only long enough to see she was alright before snapping the reigns.

“Hold on, Annette, I’m—”

His horse reared as a flash of light filled their vision, bright and blue and blinding. Sylvain held tight and shielded his eyes, but he couldn’t make out what was happening. He shook his head as if that would clear the spots dancing before his eyes, then looked up. 

Mercedes was on the field, standing between Annette and the bird with her hands raised. Magic still glowed at the tips of her fingers, and she shouted for Annette to run and took a step forward. She was angrier than Sylvain had ever seen her: shoulders squared, feet planted, eyes glinting like blue steel. If they hadn’t been in the middle of a battle, Sylvain would have called her beautiful. She was beautiful anyway, but something about the unexpected fierceness in her was drawing him in like a siren.

“Leave my friend _alone!”_ Mercedes shouted, and with the strongest bolganone Sylvain had ever seen she set the creature alight. He hadn’t realized she even _knew_ that spell.

The bird shrieked and back-winged away, clawing at the dirt as it writhed in midair and struggled to put itself out. It swiped at Mercedes, who stumbled back and nearly fell. The magic had clearly taken a toll on her; her movements were slower, her shoulders slumped. The gusts from the creature’s wings threatened to bowl her over with every pass, and Mercedes staggered, backing herself into the very corner that Annette had escaped.

Sylvain kicked his horse to a gallop and sheathed his lance; no time to fight the thing. Better to grab Mercedes and run, get her somewhere safe before taking it out.

“Mercedes, heads up!” He slowed to a canter just as the bird began to gather its strength for a new attack. At the sound of her name she looked up, startled, then reached for him; Sylvain leaned out of the saddle and reached as far as he could, clasping her arm in his and pulling her up behind him.

Mercedes immediately wrapped her arms around his waist. Sylvain urged his horse forward. They surged past the bird as it unleashed its whirlwind, the remnants whipping behind them as it ricocheted from the canyon walls and pelted them with bits of stone.

“What were you thinking?” he asked, not turning to look at her. “You’re not a _soldier_ , Mercedes. What did you think—” Then he stopped; safe place, _then_ lecture. 

Wait, _lecture?_

Saints, he sounded like Ingrid.

Behind them, he could hear the bird shrieking; this time it was with the sound of other voices— Felix, he thought, and probably Dimitri— and that eased his mind. The battle was dying down now, and by the time they were far enough away that Sylvain felt he could stop, the canyon was almost silent once again. 

He dismounted first, setting his lance aside before reaching up to help her down. “You’re lucky I was around,” he said. Or he started to say; but Mercedes, feet now on the ground, collapsed into him with a sob. “Whoa, whoa, hey! Easy,” he said, patting her back. It felt clumsy with his gauntlets still on. “You’re okay. Everything’s fine now.”

“No, you’re right. I shouldn’t have— I don’t know what I—” Mercedes lifted her head. She wasn’t crying (and thank the goddess for that, because Sylvain never knew what to do when a girl cried around him), but she looked like she might. “I just saw Annette in danger and I had to do _something_ —”

“Hey, it’s okay,” said Sylvain. He scratched the back of his head, willing his eyes anywhere but her big blues, less steel, still beautiful. “I was… harsh, before. Lectures aren’t really my style, anyway.” He clapped her on the shoulder and laughed. “But you did great! You’re fine, I’m fine, Annette’s fine-- we’re all fine! All because you were there.”

Mercedes sniffled and let him go, wiping her face on the back of her sleeve. “Then you’re not… angry with me?”

“Who, me? Angry? Nah, you’ve got me all wrong.” He grinned. “Besides, I can’t really be upset with you for doing something I’d do.”

"I suppose not," she said, and he was relieved when she giggled. Then her expression turned thoughtful. “Is that how you feel when you’re charging headlong into things?”

“I think ‘charging headlong’ is a bit much, but… What do you mean?”

“Hm. Like… like thing else matters, so long as the other person’s safe.”

“Oh. Well, yeah, I guess so.” Sylvain crossed his arms, gauntleted fingers tapping sharply along his forearm. “To be honest, I don’t really think about it when it’s happening. I just do it.”

“But aren’t you scared?”

He laughed at that. “Honestly? All the time. But I’m more scared I’ll be too late, you know? Like if I hadn’t been there today, or you hadn’t been there for Annette.”

“That’s very brave of you.”

“Oh, goddess, don’t start that,” Sylvain felt his cheeks burning even as he tried to laugh the compliment away. “I’m just a reckless good-for-nothing on a horse.”

“That’s not true at all!” She frowned up at him, hands clutching the skirt of her robes. “You’re just as vital to this team as any one of us, and you're our friend, besides! We can’t afford to lose you, Sylvain.”

Her words struck him right in the chest, phasing through his armor to suckerpunch his lungs. Sylvain coughed, covering his mouth and taking a shaky breath before he attempted to speak. 

“We can’t afford to lose you, either,” he said, chuckling and blinking back the tears her sudden earnestness had summoned. “If anything happened to you, I would— I mean, we all would be—” Why now, when it mattered, couldn’t he find the words he wanted? “Just, you know, leave the fighting to us, okay? It’s our job to take the hardest hits.”

“And mine to heal them,” she added. Her solemn eyes met his, and she smiled. “Just make sure you _can_ take them, Sylvain. We’re only human, after all.”

“Sylvain, Mercedes! Are you two alright?” 

The professor was approaching, Felix and Annette right behind. At the sight of Mercedes, safe and sound, Annette burst into tears and threw herself at the other girl. Felix, however, didn’t say a word; he only crossed his arms and scowled at Sylvain, as if the whole thing had been his fault.

“I-I was s-so w-worried!” 

“Oh, Annie, it’s okay! We’re fine!”

“I heard what happened,” said Byleth. They looked the two of them over, anyway, and only when they were satisfied did they relax. “But I see you’re both well. Good work out there.”

“Yes, professor,” said Mercedes. “Sorry to worry everyone.”

“Speaking of worrying everyone.”

Sylvain hadn’t seen Dimitri _or_ Dedue arrive, which must have said something for his state of mind. Post-battle fatigue, probably. It didn't stop him from watching the scene with growing amusement as His Highness proceeded to lecture the professor for their recklessness. “Running off without us, going to a holy site alone— a holy site _without permission_ , I might add, and for what?”

A tug on his tunic made Sylvain look down; Mercedes was grinning up at him. When she had his attention, her eyes flicked to Dimitri and back. Then she began to giggle. Before he knew it, Sylvain was laughing, too.

“What?” Annette wiped her eyes. “What’s so funny?”

“Oh, nothing,” said Mercedes. 

Felix scoffed. “You're all idiots.”

“Aw, c’mon Felix,” chirped Annette, “it worked out okay!” She linked her arm in his, then looped her other around Mercie’s and tugged them both toward the valley’s entrance. Felix yelped as if he’d been hit, but didn’t pull away. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s just go home.”

Sylvain just followed with a smile and the shake of his head.

**Author's Note:**

> alt title: YOU CAN’T JUST DO THESE THINGS, NEMO  
>  ~~god am I funny yet~~
> 
> Thanks as always for reading! I know I'm a bit behind but I'm determined to finish out the week's prompts. You can still find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/imagymnasia) whenever you like, though.


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